Confessions of a Teenage Broadway Star

01 » ❝Don't Rain On My Parade❞

"Don't tell me not to live, just sit and putter!"
- Don't Rain on my Parade, Funny Girl 

CONFESSION NUMBER ONE: English teachers do not like it when your phone starts singing show tunes in the middle of class.

        Scarlett Bright is fully aware of this. And, while it's really more of a fact than a confession, it's mortifying nonetheless for Scarlett to admit that she's failed to put her phone on silent again - which is why Barbra Streisand is currently serenading her english class like the funny girl she never fails to be.

        Admittedly, Scarlett has never had a great track record with new schools. So, when her phone starts delivering an eleven o'clock number to her homeroom, she figures that it was inevitable anyway: she just can't break the "theatre kid curse".

        She might as well walk around with the words broadway geek written on her forehead in permanent ink. 

        "Miss Bright, aren't you going to get that?"

        Scarlett bites her lip. "Ah, no, that's - that's alright. I'll call back later," she replies in embarrassment, her cheeks burning as bright red as Reno Sweeney's lips.

        Mrs Collins looks less than amused. "Are you sure? It could be important."

        Scarlett is about to launch into one of her famous rambling-sessions about how class is just as important - in which she basically just kisses up to her teacher so as to avoid her inevitable detention - when her teacher nods her head in the direction of Scarlett's bag, motioning for her to turn the damn phone off already.

        Fumbling through her backpack, she silently curses the day she decided to make her ringtone "Don't Rain On My Parade". Finally finding the ringer button amidst the loose change and bubblegum wrappers, Scarlett sinks into her chair with a quiet sigh, fully aware that the entire class' eyes are on her, but blushing too fiercely from embarrassment to acknowledge it. Mrs Collins makes her way up the aisle to where Scarlett has sat herself toward the centre of the room, her heels clicking on the tiles as she fixes a sufficiently intimidating glare on Scarlett.

        Are teachers meant to scare the life out of students? Because if that's in the job description, someone out there should be giving Mrs Collins a generous raise.

        "Well," her English teacher continues, "if you're finished serenading the class with your cell phone, I'm sure you wouldn't mind bringing it down to the principal's office yourself?" she asks, and Scarlett feels her cheeks burn an entirely new shade of red altogether. Still, that doesn't stop her from picking up her things in defeat and making her way out of the classroom, a detention slip in hand.

        So this is what it's like to be humiliated in front of a group of judgmental teenagers, Scarlett thinks glumly. "Hey, check out the broadway geek." She overhears a brown-haired girl snicker to her friend as she slips through the door.  

        At this, Scarlett throws a sweater over her dress and zips it up tight. Hiding the bright red converse, however, was going to be another job altogether. Admittedly, she wasn't thinking too hard when she threw on her blue-checkered sundress and red shoes before heading off to her first day of senior year. In her defense, she really doesn't see how a broadway-metaphor isn't an appropriate outfit for her first day at a performing arts high school, especially as a vocal major. Frankly, she's surprised she's the only one wearing a themed outfit, even if by accident.

        Okay, so maybe "Broadway Geek" is an accurate title for Scarlett after all.

        Still, it's going to take a lot more than a show-stopping musical number and jazz hands to prepare Scarlett for what the rest of the day has in store.